1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an electrical vacuum switch having two contact members movable in and out of engagement with each other and means for generating an axial magnetic field between the contact faces.
2. Prior Art
A switch of the type described above is known from Dutch Patent Application No. 7601084. The latter patent application concerns a vacuum switch. Due to the produced axial magnetic field the interrupter properties of the switch are improved considerably. In this known switch the means for generating the axial magnetic field consists of a pair of spiral coils connected in series with the contact members. These coils have been mounted on either side of the tangent plane of the contact members, the winding direction thereof being such that an axial magnetic field is generated in situ at this tangent plane when the coils are energized by means of an electrical current. The manner of generating the axial magnetic field in the known switch incurs the drawback that in these coils due to the electrical resistence thereof the electrical current causes a continuous heat generation detrimentally affecting the permissable maximum current level to be passed continuously through the vacuum switch.